The beginnings of forest management on Polish lands (late-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries)

This article analyzes the emergence of modern forest management on the Polish lands from the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century, framing it within Enlightenment economic thought, state-building, and delayed industrialization in Central and Eastern Europe. Based on written, cartographic, and administrative sources, it traces the transformation of forests from heterogeneous landscapes governed by customary rights into standardized, administratively legible spaces shaped by scientific forestry. The study compares three successive political regimes—the Prussian administration (1793–1806), the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815), and the Congress Kingdom of Poland after 1816—highlighting both continuity and rupture in forest governance. Although short-lived, the Prussian period established durable institutional and spatial frameworks, including large-scale surveying and centralized administration. Later reforms intensified bureaucratic control but unfolded under conditions of a delayed energy transition, with continued reliance on wood and charcoal. This dependence fostered the expansion of Scots pine monocultures, particularly in industrial regions such as the Holy Cross Mountains. The article argues that forest modernization in the Polish lands represents a case of multi-speed modernization, the ecological and social consequences of which remain visible in present-day forest landscapes. • Traces the emergence of modern forestry on Polish lands, 1790s–1850s. • Compares Prussian, Duchy of Warsaw, and Congress Kingdom regimes. • Shows forest management as a state-driven Enlightenment project. • Reveals delayed energy transition shaping pine monocultures. • Identifies long-term ecological and social legacies of forestry modernization.